Fans of Losing Teams Eat More Fatty Food

Sports fans suffering through a loss may console themselves by indulging in unhealthy foods, a study found. Researchers monitored food consumption in major metropolitan areas, tracking the consumption of saturated fats by surveying a group of residents during football season. People in cities whose home teams lost a football game on Sunday consumed an average of 16 percent more saturated fat than normal on the following Monday, while those in regions with winning teams ate 9 percent less saturated fat than usual. Another experiment suggested that a fan could combat unhealthy eating tendencies with self-affirmation: writing down a list of values unrelated to sports in order of their personal importance. After all, does it matter if the Bears lost to the Packers when considering the virtues of world peace?Source:Psychological Science, published online Aug. 7, 2013